that is the interest rate. 3.41%, that is a bargain of a deal. that is my two cents more and that is it for tonight "the willis report." have a great night, see you tomorrow. lou: good evening, everybody. the white house running from the david petraeus scandal in the tough questions that follow. many of those questions related to benghazi. jay carney in a move to refer rather than answer the white house press corps. could only offer a series of nonanswers and referrals to questions ranging from a breach of national security to the convenient election day timing of the president being informed of the petraeus scandal. >> i would refer you to the pentagon for the process underway with regard to it. the pentagon and the ig on the

one hand and the fbi in regard to general petraeus. >> i refer you to the fbi. as i understand it they have protocols in place for when the notify the legislative and executive branches of investigations. the fbi is the place to go in terms of explanation the protocols they follow. i would refer, that said earlier, to policies in place at the fbi for how they deal with notifications investigations. lou: as you saw and heard, a frustrating day for the white house press corps. the president spokesman however did not shy away from a question on this petraeus would testify in front of congress on benghazi. made it clear the administration is firmly supportive of petraeus' successor. he will be facing questions that are still lingering over if the cia refused requests for help on

the ground on september 11 and why three days after that attack then director petraeus but in the attack in the flash mob incited by childish, amateurish, less than 14 minutes long youtube video. >> is up to congress to make decisions of who is called to testify. but the president is confident acting director morale is fully capable of her present in the cia in any hearing about benghazi. lou: he braced the matc briefedd senate today, but they are unified in their insistence that petraeus, who actually visited the attack site in libya two weeks ago does what the american people to testify the incident for american citizens dead. >> out like to hear from him within the next week or so. there is so much to learn, had just gotten back from a trip over there, but what happened in

a real term version because the american people have a right to know. lou: not only upset about the fbi's failure to notify congress about the petraeus sex scandal investigation, but california democrats now threatening to subpoena the cia summary of petraeus october 31 trip to libya where fox news has confirmed he personally interviewed the agents on the ground. meanwhile new questions arise in almost daily including why was petraeus doing his own investigation if that was his true purpose of going to benghazi, and why has the fbi spent more time on the petraeus sex scandal than on benghazi itself? you recall the fbi investigators had less than a day in benghazi and left classified papers on the floor of the conflict when they left. those papers found by journalists three weeks after the fbi had been there.

a father of petraeus alleged mistress had this to say about the new york daily news about the sex scandal. this is about something else entirely, and the truth will come out. you wait and see, there is a lot more here than meets the eye. a lot more to a story involving the former top spy in america the time when the cia has been the center of a cover-up over the reasons why no help was given for american citizens who ultimately were killed by terrorists in benghazi. we take all this up here tonight. the politics of it all. former pentagon official kt mcfarland here with me. gary bernsen is here. and former arkansas governor mike huckabee among our guests. our first guest says no one knows more about benghazi than petraeus, but even if he were to testify, the credibility has now been discredited. joining us, kate mcfarland.

this is first of all we have to acknowledge i believe it is very clear, there is so much more here writing every day, more questions, it runs deep. the idea that petraeus would not testify or that the secretary of state clinton would have a conflict, your reaction to those. >> the cover-up continues. nobody who knows more about benghazi before, after or during the attack than david benghazi. and now for whatever reason, he is not testify. he may eventually testify, they may subpoena him. at this point where it's his credibility? if he knew he was being investigated as he went up to capitol hill to spin the tale the white house wanted him to spin about this is about a mov

movie, what kind of leverage did they hold over him? the leverage is gone now, he has nothing to lose. lou: the allegations by the alleged mistress in this impact during the speech on october 26 that the fbi was engaging in putting them up at the cia annex cooperated as fox news has reported with resources cooperating the views that is exactly what was happening. what is your reaction here? there have to be a binding that permitted this by the president himself. that would also reach out to the intelligence committee for the house and the senate, would it not? >> yeah. lou: and if so, maybe that is what everybody is being so nice of the contributions of one general david petraeus. is that possible? >> that is possible. but if that is the case, the cia

had detained people, guess what, that is not what president obama said. if the cia is back in the line of work of getting taking bad guys and interrogating them, that is probably a bigger scandal right then and there. lou: it is the only departure of the bush policy, that i'm aware of in this administration, isn't that correct? >> they have continued a lot of other things. what makes me very nervous, we have an fbi that reports the attorney general and the justice department investigating another intelligence armed government and another cabinet officer and presumably this has now been done. lou: at this point we all have to say with absolute directness,

it is time to be reserved about the use of the word true and very important if the allegations claimed by. we have the top spy proved himself dumb enough knowing he is being surveyed by his own agency in all likelihood other agencies of foreign government, by the bad guys other nations, my gosh, how could anybody be so stupid as to do what he has done? >> i know the man and i'm as stunned and upset as anybody. what is the take away from all of this? other countries are looking at us and what are they saying -- mark they have said all along americans are a degenerate society. and what are we showing them? that is exactly what we have done. al qaeda attacks american soil.

nobody is coming after them. they're just laughing all the way and will be fighting with each other. they will never come after us. lou: the cia, which does such important work and does it quietly and covertly and secretive, he is being dragged into the middle of this mess. we will see i'm sure more nonsense, everything working against the interest of the nation, and the guy who worked 37 years in the service of this country in uniform, a four-star general, how in the world could we have such irresponsibility at the top? >> not only that, but what happened in the 1970s when we investigated the cia and aired out the dirty laundry.

by the 1990s but never saw al qaeda coming. lou: kate mcfarland, as always, appreciate it. much more on the petraeus scandal, implications on the obama administration and the national interest throughout this broadcast. united states on track for another trillion dollars deficit. is the country headed for wealth or poverty? the author of the book joins us. don't you love it? a lame duck session of congress, they're the ones who have to steer us away from the fiscal cliff. joining us tonight, governor mike huckabee.

lou: congress returns to begin work on a busy lame-duck session. can we expect anything positive? lets talk with former arkansas

governor mike huckabee here in a few moments and we want to bring you up to date on what is happening with the fiscal cliff. the market, the economy. the fiscal cliff is threatening wall street, stocks beginning with some optimism, a modest rally only to see wary of the fiscal cliff. the dow and s&p down half a percent on the day. the nasdaq down three quarters of a percent. all three indexes under the 200 day moving averages, that is not good. tech shares the weakest of the market, microsoft a big weight on the market down three and three quarters of a percent on news the person responsible for the companies windows 8 has left the company. cisco unchanged but the stock is trading slightly higher. beating targets on revenue and earnings.

and the stock market struggling, but the moneyymoving out of stocks back into the debt market pushing prices higher. the 10-year yield down to a 1.59%. getting a better understanding of the constituents, back in washington in session with a long list of chores. none more pressing than dealing with a fiscal cliff of the benghazi investigation. joining us now, host of "huckabee" on the fox news channel. and author of the brand-new book. it is great to have you here. congratulations on the new book. >> thank you, thought we needed something other than politics for a while. what do we have? like the song by the who, meet the new boss, same as the old

boss. lou: i cling to those politics so desperately here. your reaction to the fact the smartest man in the military was there, turned out to be head of the cia, the dumbest spy we ever had. >> not a good week for spies. when you add to the drama of general allen and the ever-expanding scandal, it is tragic for their families, tragic for america. lou: the part that is tragic for us. in our various institutions, since there are no consequences. sitting in an aircraft, we have a pretty strong light, and this actually the architect and the

guy who presided over the largest conflict in american history, a conflict we have not won. >> to his credit, we have to give general petraeus credit. he is paid a price, nobody comes a general without slipping up to the top. i have extraordinary respect for these folks. lou: you say these folks. no one respects for supports more or military than i do. if you will, i will not indulge the plural. i'm talking about a man who sent the cia down the gutter. >> i will not defend what he did, you can't.

lou: why don't we try to get to what is going on. why are we putting up with this kind of nonsense and recognizing there is a culture the military and in washington that we have to get a hold of. >> i think it is a culture all over our society. look at the sports world. virtually no part of our culture in which people don't feel they don't have to be faithful to their congress or their spouse or their families and to their jobs. the ceo of lockheed martin just today forced out. it is a pattern and it is not limited to the military. it permeates the entire american culture because we have said that we can pretty much do what we want to. we spent a generation saying there is no such thing as morality, it is old-fashioned. lou: that would be your generation and mine. >> that is exactly right. no thought of divorce, live and

let live, free drugs, free sex, what do we expect? i think what we're doin we are e planted seeds when we were young and now they have turned into full and it is choking us. lou: what do you think should happen next? >> the one positive out of all this is i think this will trigger an absolute certainty of an investigation into what really happened in benghazi. it is not yet permeated the% mainstream media. they will not be able to ignore it as a result of these scandals that will now bring attention to it but never would have before. lou: in the most perverse matter, petraeus may have done the nation a service for at least a portion of the damage she has done with his conduct.

i want to turn to, if i may. >> it isn't your show, you can do what you want to. lou: i feel compelled to talk about something other than politics because your lament about politics from the beginning. the grandfather's thoughts on things that matter most, we are at the very least could talk about the things that matter most as we talk. love the fact you are embracing your grandchildren. i have five of them myself, proud of them all. >> you should be. lou: family is so important. >> we are not passing down to the next generation a sense of do right. we're not passing down to them this sense that there is something as important as honor, duty, respect, responsibility. this is written for every parent and every grandparent. i know my grandkids will not read this until i am long gone.

they will be in their 40s or 50s before they care, but they will want to connect with the people above them in order to connect the people coming after them. it is important we help to try to say we have made some real mistakes, but here are the things that matter. work, it matters to have respect for your parents, it matters to understand the world in which you live in, it matters to understand who god is, it matters to think about the purpose of pain and suffering in your life. that is what this book does. i think it is a perfect segue because that is what is wrong with our culture. we have a don't let me have responsibility, let somebody else pay the price, i just want to have a good time and have it today. lou: governor, thank you a lot. traffic. >> thank you. thanks. lou: grandfathers and grandmothers everywhere unite. buy this book.

up next, to the obama administration blow the directors cover to cover something more sinister? joining us, president obama to meet with some of the countries most respected ceos, can they convince him to take a path to prosperity? george gilder joins us next. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] they are a glowing example of what it means to be the best. and at this special te of year, they shine even brighter. come to the winter event andet the mercedes-benz you've always wished for, now for an exceptional price. [ santa ] ho, ho, ho, ho! [ male announcer lease a 13 glk350 for $399 a month at your local mercedes-benz dealer.

lou: president obama meeting with heads of the labor union today who say the president is committed to higher taxes on top earners saying the rich don't pay their share. tomorrow a group of ceos will meet with the president, some of

them also members of the campaign to fix the debt movement pushing for a long-term plan to fix our debt and deficit. joining me now in th on the cous most thoughtful, political economic thinkers, george gilder, also the author of the "israel test," just released today. >> i it is great to be here. lou: let's start some politics. i think rationally so. we are faced with economic calamity if our politics don't work here. what would you put the odds at that busy rationality and effectiveness reemerge from washington, d.c., on the fiscal cliff? >> zero. lou: i thought that. >> if we can keep the current tax rates, we would continue to increase government revenue. increasing 26% under the bush tax rates over the last two years.

over the last two years, government revenues have risen 26%, almost a quarter using the buss tax rates. low tax rates bring more revenues, not less revenues. lou: do you interpret all of the drama to be a lack of faith? in front of the growth model that has been demonstrated, as you point out, over the past two years. they are really saying the economy cannot grow fast enough to support the government. we will not see revenue increase unless we raise taxes. >> that is correct. the pre-verse thing is you don't get growth if you raise tax rates. in california and several other states that top rate is approaching 50% effectively with

a 50% top rate, a business have as much incentive to fire somebody to lower-cost as to hire somebody to increase revenues. lou: it is a high risk experiment, but nonetheless experiment bringing tax levels above 50%, the nation right now getting ready to move higher. are we going to see california behave as the canary in the coal mine, if you will, when it comes to economic growth and the ability to support an ever-growing government? >> of course. people are just fleeing california. california is what happens to countries that raise their tax rates. entrepreneurs flea and welfare recipients flee in and you have an unsustainable state of affairs, and that is california,

unsustainable. and silicon valley is america's greatest asset, the source of all of our technology and ultimately our military power and potential for growth and we are settling into over the pale, everybody in silicon view is angling for green subsidies and it is a tragedy. lou: that tragedy compounded by the fact the money that has been spent by this administration if you will on venture money like solyndra has been disastrous. >> they are twisting our venture capitalist, turning people like john doerr into a blithering idiot. john seeking government subsidies. he now wants us to support him rather than him to support the country with wonderful new companies like intel.

lou: john is being adaptive to new realities. the primary source of the capital, he is turning to it, i suppose. i want to turn to this book, "the israel test." you take up the issue of the world civilization, importance of israel within it. as a capitalist as well as jewish state. you really believe that israel is that strong, that important in the world's future? >> i certainly do. the american economy is heavily dependent on israel today, partly because of the debauchery of silicon valley, but now israel is a crucial source of new technology for apple. all apples, flash tribes, just bought a new israeli company to empower its new technologies. microsoft, cisco, johnson and johnson.

the dependent on technologies that come from israel. they're deeply dependent. obama seems to think that the the tips is more important in israel or turkey is more important. israel is the most important technology force in the world next to the united states, and if we keep on our current path israel will be number one. lou: always good to talk with you. >> great to talk to you. lou: you can find a link honor loudobbs.com. forty-eight days until the fiscal cliff. can the president and congress make a deal to avoid recession? the "a-team" is here.

the obama white house moves to strong arm tactics. the first lady may have gone too far. she may have committed an abuse of power that is beyond unconscionable. the sex scandal. a smokescreen for what the former cia director really knows about benghazi? former cia operative gary bernstein joins us, and the question we all want answered, can our tops by really be this town? seems they haven't been moving much lately. but things are starting to turn around because of business people like you. and regions is here to help. with the experience and service to keep thgs rolling. from business loans to cash management, we want to be your partner moving forward. so switch to regions. and let's get going. together.

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lou: some say the scandal is a distraction from the bin does the cover-up. i believe it may be an important lever with which to price answers from the stone wall that has been erected by the obama administration around benghazi. that is why we asked our next guest to join us. former cia operative, highly

decorated and served 23 years in the contest and service working as chief of station in the middle east and latin america leading counter-terrorism efforts, and it is great of you to be with us. thank you so much. this is, obviously, a breathtaking the incredible. but i want to understand, how in the world the cia could let its director get into this kind of a mass. >> clearly everybody is stunned. when i learned that the fbi was looking at the cia director's e-mails, i was like, little outrage. but then you hear about the spread of the story. jill kelly, general allen, and you recognize that once the fbi was alerted that there were these sorts of context, and hundreds, if not thousands of e-mails. they were thinking counterintelligence. that is what they were thinking. and so based on that they

pursued this very aggressively. this thing has been opened up, and it is all on general patraeus. this is clearly, no one else in the cia. he should have known better and he acted in a reckless fashion which is why he was forced to resign. lou: my question is, it would seem to me that if a man were in his position he would understand , he is being surveiled by his own government. he is being -- various agencies. >> tradecraft. lou: and he is being surveiled, obviously, by the bad guys. what in the world would any director think he could get away with? >> there is no insight. horrible decision making. the level of arrogance, the level of arrogance in this. you know, best for people not to be arrogant in this competitive and aggressive and conflicting world.

terrible, terrible judgment on his part. lou: benghazi, cia director goes to push on interview agents. all of this obviously well after the attacks on september 11th. what in the world could you possibly be thinking? would he not be thinking of how that looks to his own agency, for him to be sitting there sifting through the papers in the dust of an attack in which someone and most suspect the director himself, failed to is the rescue for americans who died in a terrorist attack. >> clearly a big issue in all of this is that the cia does two things, for intelligence collection star runs agents and produces intelligence for the white house and the covert action. covert action is where you see some sort of outcome, but you have to have a finding written. it must be signed by the

president, presented to congress. the question is, were the things going on the ground that they did not have a finding not? was the national security council probably -- possibly doing things in tandem with their ambassador that they might not have reported? did the agency involved? lou: let me interject. referring to obviously what paul brought well in a denver october 26 beach said. at least an occurrence of the tensions at the cia and next in benghazi, and i'm sorry. go ahead. >> but allow me to say this. i don't think that makes any sense because the agency, when people are captured and they would render them off to somewhere very quickly. there is a larger narrative here , this ministration, not spoken about. unfortunately they're willing to take the beating of a this, the public beating that they're taking over this because the

truth is probably worse and has serious consequences. you know, if it was not for certain elements of the media, we would not know. this may turn out to be a very, very large problem for this administration or this entire story. lou: and the instinct as to where this goes next? >> well, i think there will probably come i would not be surrrised on the tampa site is uc more individuals in contact with the socialites that were there, but i think that, you know, you will be looking at the national security council as to where this will go. conducting activities that should have been left to the agency. did they do things that probably required some sort of finding. only time will tell. lou: good to have you with this. thank you so much. >> pleasure. lou: up next, a brand new report breathing life back into the keystone pipeline project. imagine. here tomorrow, retired u.s. pacific fleet commander admiral

james lyons joins us. former u.s. ambassador to the united nations john bolton, carl's jr., hearties ceo about the fiscal cliff, obamacare. and business. stay with us. a shocking abuse of power by the first lady. honest. i mean, this is important. i mean, this is -- i can't -- special relationships with@ britain. it's important. it will come right back.

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lou: we tolerate a lot in this country and on this broadcast, but this next abuse of power will not go unchallenged, and here we go. first lady michele obama will be getting an advance copy of the third season of dawson's abbey before it airs in the united states beginning january of next year. the first lady, such a big fan of the british trauma that her office has britain's i tv

sending her new seasons. we want you to know, this is an average, abuse of power. there will be political consequences, i'm sure. anyway, and if you are going to abuse your power i think that is one of the smartest choice. moody's rating agency predicting president obama, improve the keystone exxon -- keystone xl pipeline. he expects the president to eventually sign off on the pipeline and it likely will not be a quick process. warning the president's real -- reelection could mean the end of the oral industry tax breaks. tighter regulations on oil and gas companies. since they're putting on about 68 per day i don't think that will be a big shock. a stunning new statistic concerning the nation's right to work by a study of government data shows that 22.

please, listen to this. twenty-two right to work states accounted for 72% of all the net new jobs created since the recession ended in june of 2009. think about that. 72 percent of all the jobs created. despite the fact that right to work states represent only -- 40% of the entire population. by the way, the study did not include the 19,000 jobs created in indiana because it's just adopted right to work laws in february. so it is probably 70 to 3%. up next, the father of david patraeus is mistress calls the scandal a smokescreen for something much bigger. the "a-team" is next.

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♪ lou: joining me now, the "a-team," former prosecutor, fox news legal analyst, author and political commentator, former deputy assistant to president george w. bush. thank you all for being here. let's start with, this case is bizarre. now that we get that out of the way, why in the world is and there some sort of way which congress can compel david patraeus to testify? secretary clinton to testify. >> secretary clinton is too busy

in australia having fun with her friends. lou: if that overrides the national interest. >> i think that they will be allowed to bring him in, but the problem with him going forward and testifying, i think we will finally have him testify. who is going to believe him anymore? you going to believe a guy who is a lying, cheating, and is to bit about it kind of guy and we will leave whenever he says? what every says will be diminished by what has happened since friday. lou: do you agree? >> i do absolutely. i will say obviously there was a big election in china. important.ally extremely so clinton. that is not an excuse. >> you can do it by state. >> other matters to deal with. lou: such as -- anyway, let's move to the fbi here. i mean, the fbi surveiling the

cia. we are to believe the attorney general lee nothing about it, but the president had no knowledge of what is going on. is that credible? >> it is not, but this goes back to a even running guns. the attorney general did not know about that. there are a lot of things this attorney-general seems not to know about by convenience. it is a magic of me that that attorney-general did not know when a cabinet official is under investigation properly while the most important cabinet officials that america has because this is the keeper of american secrets. if he did not know it is sheer incompetence, but something tells me he did. >> the fbi reports, my father was an fbi agent. i worked as a federal prosecutor the report directly to the department of justice. they work for the department of justice. the idea you did not know about it, i don't understand that. lou: is it even imaginable that the head of the fbi and the

attorney general would not have some considerable discussion about surveillance of the head of the country's foremost spy agency? we will come right back with the case for an answer that question. at least they will in just moments. ds card gives you 1% cash back on all purchases, plus a 50% annual bonus. and everyone likes 50% more... [ midwestern/chicago accent ] cheddar! yeah! 50 percent more [yodeling] yodel-ay-ee-oo. 50% more flash. [ southern accent ] 50 percent more taters. that's where tots come from. [ male announcer ] the capital one cash rewards card gives you 1% cash back on every purchase plus a 50% annual bonus on the cash you earn. it's the card for people who like more cash. 50% more spy stuff. what's in your wallet? this car is too small.

lou: fiscal cliff, fiscal cliff. you think we will be able to get a solution, these things, the president will stand up and leave in the two parties will

come together, embrace higher taxes and less spending? >> yes, i do. i really beliive in this country. labeling the country the brightest spot in the world two weeks ago. something has to be done, this is his moment to leave. >> i hope you are right. lou: do you agree or just hoping? >> i am in the hoping category. i have not seen any indication in that, any indication of embracing. neil: saying republicans ought to go along with the taxes for a few millionaires and take obama's offer. just talking with friend and our colleague fred barnes yesterday. i have not heard the offer from the obama administration, have you? >> no, but you don't bet against

yourself. it is up to the president to lead, he has a do over now. there is a lot of doubt out there. it is up to president bush's offer on the table. if he acts in good faith the republicans have returned the good faith. the president had his chance, he couldn't close the deal with hs own party. lou: the man had a mandate with all these people giving up looking for work. 70.9 unemployment rate, that is a mandate? >> still the brightest spot in the economy. the only spot that has a better is canada. i come to america and it productivity. lou: doesn't it concern you? >> we're in a pennant society.

>> i am still in the hope category. lou: as yo as to talk about whae doing in rejecting the european model, it is that statist model this administration seems to be embracing, i am sure that is a misinterpretation on my part. thank you. the final word. >> the final word is that as of the presidents to offer a deal and if it is fair, we should accept it. lou: including higher taxes? >> there may be higher taxes through the loophole. lou: that didn't hurt, did it? it will go. thank you so much. now for your comments. will obama filing cabinet post? for jane fonda? not outside